Liverpool, England

 

The Beatles Story

Liverbird, on top of Royal Liver Building

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View the Liverpool Photo Album here.


My latest adventure has taken me to the west side of England to the city of Liverpool, home of the worst accent in England.  Their accent/dialect is more commonly known as Scouse, with Liverpudlians also referred to as Scousers.  Liverpool is only a 45 minute train ride from Manchester, and it was an excellent day trip.

Liverpool Cathedral, Largest in the UK, 5th Largest in the World

The symbol of Liverpool, called Liverbirds (pictured above), sit atop the Royal Liver Building.  They are the most recognisable symbol of Liverpool, and there are two them facing opposite directions on top of the building.  Another cool building was the Liverpool Cathedral, which is the largest in the UK and 5th largest in the world.  There were also other buildings that had the "old English" feel, although I cannot remember specifically what each of them were.  The Liverpool ONE is a huge shopping center, but part of it is outside and uncovered, while the stores are obviously covered.  I walked by the Apple store, which had a very long queue due to the fact it was the day the iPad 2 came out.

A popular area of Liverpool is Albert Dock, which is one of many docks in Liverpool.  There are many shops and restaurants in Albert Dock, where I got a few souvenirs, cherry fudge, and strawberries and cream fudge.  Albert Dock is also home to the Merseyside Maritime Museum, the International Slavery Museum, and more famously, The Beatles Story.  In case you didn't know, Liverpool is the Birthplace of the The Beatles.  The Beatles Story was a very cool museum that was Beatles, Beatles, and more Beatles.  To put it lightly, I think the appropriate term is "Beatlemania".  I learned about the history, got to take pictures, and listen to the music.  My favourite part was an area that had a yellow submarine you could walk through, with a certain catchy tune playing on repeat.  After the tour, I went to Cavern Club, which is the place that The Beatles had their first gig, which is pretty cool if you ask me.

Anfield, home of Liverpool F.C.

Goodison Park, home of Everton F.C.

Tourist attractions aside, my favourite part of Liverpool were the two football (soccer) stadiums: Anfield, home of Liverpool F.C. (left), and Goodison Park, home of Everton F.C. (right). Both stadiums were built in the late 1800's, and each hold approximately 40,000 people.  There wasn't anything earth-shattering about them, but any stadium you get to see up close and in person for a sports fan like me is always a great moment.  I was able to walk from one to the other in about twenty minutes, which shows how close they are.

Liverpool is a great city, and it would be even better if I could understand what they were saying through that Scouse accent of theirs.  Cheers!

Edinburgh, Scotland

View the photo album of Edinburgh here.

My most recent trip has taken me to the northernmost country of the UK: Scotland.  That's right, Scotland, also known as the Birthplace of Golf, and also home to Scotch Whiskey and the Edinburgh Castle.  First of all, Edinburgh does not rhyme with Pittsburgh, rather it is pronounced "Edinburrah".  With that confusion past us, I can move on to the good stuff.

Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is a very nice city.  Edinburgh has two parts, Old Town and New Town.  The Old Town has all of the older architecture (including the Edinburgh Castle), while the New Town has the more modern buildings.  We walked around the city, and there were a quite a few monuments.  I am not sure of the significance of the Scott Monument, but it sure was one of the most spectacular I have seen.  I was also able to see George Heriots School, which is the school that Hogwart's (from Harry Potter) is based on.  The city was filled with many nice buildings, especially on the Royal Mile.  The Royal Mile leads to the Edinburgh Castle, and as the name suggests, it is one Scots mile long (approximately 1.1 miles).  Here lies many small shops, a church, and other old buildings.  The Bank of Scotland is very close, and it is lit up beautifully in the night sky.  On the street I saw a street performer; however, it was a man in a kilt and proper Scottish attire playing a bagpipe.  He was actually pretty good!  For lunch we went to a restaurant and had the famous Scotland dish, haggis (pictured above).  The wikipedia definition of haggis is a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock.  Can you say delicious??  It actually wasn't as bad as it sounds, and it tasted even better with cranberry sauce.  That being said, I don't see haggis coming into my normal eating regimen anytime soon.

The Edinburgh Castle was very cool, and some of the building inside the castle have been there since the 12th century.  I couldn't believe when I walked inside it that there was a tiny village inside it!  I was even able to see the actual crown worn by the Scottish King back in the 1600's.  The view from the castle was extraordinary.  I was able to see the whole city of Edinburgh from the castle, and it was breathtaking.  I am unsure as to what else I can say about a castle, but you can't say you have visited Edinburgh until you have visited the Edinburgh Castle.

Scotch Whiskey.  Notice that I did not say "imported" Scotch Whiskey.  That's because I went to the Scotch Whiskey Experience!  Here, we were able to learn how Scotch Whiskey is made, how to appreciate it, and to actually try it.  There were 5 different kinds, each with its own flavor based on the region of Scotland where it is made: Lowland, Highland, Speyside, Islay, and Blended (a mix).  My favorite was the Lowland, which had a citrus taste with a dry finish.  There are also 5 steps to appreciating Scotch Whiskey: Color, Body, Nose, Palate, and Finish.  One of the coolest things in the Scotch Whiskey Experience was a chess set filled with Scoth Whiskey, and each piece in the set was proportional to the weight of the respective royalty (i.e. The King piece was filled to the proportionality of the King's weight).

Above all of the touristy things to do in Edinburgh, my favorite experience did not take place downtown, or the city centre as it is called in the UK.  Rather it took place on the golf course, Braid Hills Golf Course to be exact.  Can you imagine golfing in the country of its origin?  Neither could I, but I couldn't pass on the opportunity.  The course was absolutely astonishing, and had the most amazing view from a golf course that I have ever seen (view from the golf course, can see Arthur's Seat in background).  I was able to see the city centre, past the city centre and the bay/ocean, as well as a beautiful view of Arthur's Seat, a very popular and recognizable mountain in Edinburgh.  Golfing was very relaxing, as they did not pair me up with anyone, so I was free to golf at my own leisure, where I stopped often and took lots of pictures.  It was a tremendous experience, and now I can say that I have golfed in the country where the game started.

Bath and Stonehenge

 

This past weekend I went to Bath, UK as well as the world-famous Stonehenge.  Click here to view the web album.

Simply put, Bath is a beautiful city.  In case you didn't know, Bath is 4 hours south of Manchester by bus.  Fortunately, the weather was perfect and sunny in Bath on Saturday, while the weather on Sunday went as follows: Sunny, Rain, Sunny, Rain, Sunny; All in the same day!  I was able to see everything I wanted to see in Bath, as I had done some reason the day before.  We started off the day by walking around and just enjoyed the beautiful scenery and architecture.  The Pulteney Bridge (right) was the first stop, and it was the first of many places that I couldn't stop taking pictures of.  We then walked around the main area of town, which included the famous Roman Baths (top left), as well as the cathedral known as the Bath Abbey (top right).  These were my two favorite parts of Bath, which comes at no surprise that they are also the most popular places to visit in Bath.  There is actually more than one bath, and the one I am pictured with is The Great Bath, which is the biggest and most photographed bath.  I knew I couldn't come to the Roman Baths without touching the water, and when I did I was shocked to feel that the water was very warm!  There are also other baths inside, but I spent the majority of the time outdoors walking around and talking pictures of the the Great Bath, as well as the Bath Abbey which you can see from inside the Great Bath since it is actually outdoors.  The Bath Abbey was marvelous.  It is much smaller and less detailed than the York Minster, but has a very similar style to the architecture and stained glass.  Although the Abbey said it has closed at half 5 (5:30), the door was open so we decided to walk in and see how far we could get.  It is amazing how far a little ambitious instinct will take you.  Apparently there was a proper choir practicing in the Abbey, and it was truly a jaw-dropping experience.  Some may call that lucky, but I like to think of luck as being what happens when preparation meets opportunity, and I just went with it.  Other attractions in Bath that we saw were the Royal Crescent (huge building in the shape of almost a semi-circle), The Circus (not clowns, but rather 3 big buildings wrapped around a rotary/roundabout separated by little streets), and eating a famous Sally Lunn Bun (a sweet bread, about the size of a large cereal bowl).  Sally Lunn buns are usually eaten with toppings such as cinnamon butter or raspberry topping, but I had mine plain, and it was still delicious.

As for Stonehenge, what can I say.  There are two approaches to Stonehenge: one is that they are just a pile of rocks, and the other being it is a marvel and wonder of the world.  I fit in the second category, as I was awestruck about the rocks.  While they had an audio thing to listen to facts about Stonehenge, I was too focused on taking as many pictures as I could.  I learned that they are positioned in a special way with the months, and I was also impressed about how they were able to lay the stones on top of each other.  While it may not be as exciting as a roller coaster ride, Stonehenge is a must-see attraction if you are in the UK.  And yes, in case you were wondering, I did feel the need to bust out a "Heisman pose" at Stonehenge.  Go Blue!